Non-Hermitian (NH) Dirac semimetals describe open gain--loss systems. Yet at charge neutrality, models featuring real spectrum often look Hermitian-like, with NH effects absorbed into renormalized band parameters. Here, we show that a response-based diagnostic of effective non-Hermiticity can be formulated using minimal pseudo-Lorentz-symmetry-breaking deformations, which separate observables that remain captured by parameter redefinitions from those that exhibit irreducible NH structure. For a two-dimensional NH Dirac semimetal in the weak-NH, real-spectrum regime, we analyze Dirac-cone tilt and velocity anisotropy and compute representative probes of spectral structure, quantum geometry, optical response, and viscoelasticity at zero temperature. We find that tilt yields an NH-dependent slope of the density of states that cannot be collapsed to a single effective velocity, while velocity anisotropy can be captured by effective-velocity reparametrization. Furthermore, the quantum metric and collisionless optical conductivities provide NH-insensitive benchmarks (with the nonlinear conductivity symmetry selected), whereas the shear viscosity offers a discriminator through its tensor structure. Our results identify minimal deformations and bulk response channels that enable access to effective non-Hermiticity even when the spectrum remains real.
The Nielsen-Ninomiya theorem implies that any local, Hermitian and translationally invariant lattice action in even-dimensional spacetime possess an equal number of left- and right-handed chiral fermions. We argue that if one sacrifices the property of Hermiticity while keeping the locality and translation invariance, while imposing invariance of the action under the space-time (PT) reversal symmetry, then the excitation spectrum of the theory may contain a non-equal number of left- and right-handed massless fermions with real-valued dispersion. We illustrate our statement in a simple 1+1 dime…
Topological physics relies on the existence of Hamiltonian's eigenstate singularities carrying a topological charge, such as quantum vortices, Dirac points, Weyl points and -- in non-Hermitian systems -- exceptional points (EPs), lines or surfaces. They appear only in pairs connected by a Fermi arc and are related to a Hermitian singularity, such as a Dirac point. The annihilation of 2D Dirac points carrying opposite charges has been experimentally reported. It remained elusive for Weyl points and second order EPs terminating different Fermi arcs. Here, we observe the annihilation of second or…
We theoretically investigate the emergence of non-hermitian physics at the heterojunction of a type-II Dirac semi-metal (DSM) and a dirty superconductor (DSC). The non-hermiticity is introduced in the DSM through the self-energy term incorporated via the dirtiness of the superconducting material. This causes the spectra of the effective Hamiltonian to become complex, which gives rise to the appearance of the exceptional points (EPs). This complex self energy, apart from having a frequency dependence, also acquires spatial dependence as well, which is unique and can provide interesting effects …
Non-Hermitian systems, which contain gain or loss, commonly host exceptional point degeneracies rather than the diabolic points found in Hermitian systems. We present a class of non-Hermitian lattice models with symmetry-stabilized diabolic points, such as Dirac or Weyl points. They exhibit non-Hermiticity-induced phenomena previously existing in the Hermitian regime, including topological phase transitions, Landau levels induced by pseudo-magnetic fields, and Fermi arc surface states. These behaviors are controllable via gain and loss, with promising applications in tunable active topological…
Non-Hermiticity in Weyl Hamiltonian leads to the realization of Weyl exceptional rings and flat bands inside the Weyl exceptional rings. Recently, the platform of non-Hermitian physics is extended to many-body or disordered systems where quasiparticles possess finite lifetime. Here, we clarify that the deviation from unitarity limit in a disordered Weyl semimetal leads to the generation of Weyl exceptional rings regardless of the detail of the scattering potential. In the case of topological Dirac semimetals, hybrid rings and flat bands without vorticity of complex-energy eigenvalues are reali…
An astroid-shaped loop of exceptional points (EPs), comprising four cusps, is found to spawn from the triple degeneracy point in the Brillouin zone (BZ) of a Lieb lattice with nearest-neighbor hoppings when non-Hermiticity is introduced. The occurrence of the EP loop is due to the realness of the discriminant which is guaranteed by the non-Hermitian chiral symmetry. The EPs at the four cusps involve the coalescence of three eigenstates, which is the combined result of the non-Hermitian chiral symmetry and mirror-T symmetry. The EP loop is exactly an astroid in the limit of an infinitesimal non…
We propose a pair of the complex Berry curvatures associated with the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian and its Hermitian adjoint to reveal new physics in non-Hermitian systems. We give the complex Berry curvature and Berry phase for the two-dimensional non-Hermitian Dirac model. The imaginary part of the complex Berry phase induces the quantum Hall susceptance such that the quantum Hall conductance is generalized to quantum Hall admittance for non-Hermitian systems, which implies that the non-Hermiticity of systems could induce an intrinsic quantum capacitance or inductance of systems depending on th…
We consider systems described by the two-dimensional Dirac equation where the Fermi velocity is inhomogeneous as a consequence of mechanical deformations. We show that the mechanical deformations can lead to deflection and focusing of the wave packets. The analogy with known reflectionless quantum systems is pointed out. Furthermore, with the use of the qualitative spectral analysis, we discuss how inhomogeneous strains can be used to create waveguides for valley polarized transport of partially dispersionless wave packets.
We use the idea of a Wigner surmise to compute approximate distributions of the first eigenvalue in chiral Random Matrix Theory, for both real and complex eigenvalues. Testing against known results for zero and maximal non-Hermiticity in the microscopic large-N limit we find an excellent agreement, valid for a small number of exact zero-eigenvalues. New compact expressions are derived for real eigenvalues in the orthogonal and symplectic classes, and at intermediate non-Hermiticity for the unitary and symplectic classes. Such individual Dirac eigenvalue distributions are a useful tool in Latti…
We modulate the atomic structure of bilayer graphene by driving its lattice at resonance with the in-plane E1u lattice vibration at 6.3um. Using time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (tr-ARPES) with extreme ultra-violet (XUV) pulses, we measure the response of the Dirac electrons near the K-point. We observe that lattice modulation causes anomalous carrier dynamics, with the Dirac electrons reaching lower peak temperatures and relaxing at faster rate compared to when the excitation is applied away from the phonon resonance or in monolayer samples. Frozen phonon calculations predi…
We analyze the coupling of elastic lattice deformations to the magnon degrees of freedom of magnon Dirac materials. For a Honeycomb ferromagnet we find that, as it happens in the case of graphene, elastic gauge fields appear coupled to the magnon pseudospinors. For deformations that induce constant pseudomagnetic fields, the spectrum around the Dirac nodes splits into pseudoLandau levels. We show that when a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is considered, a topological gap opens in the system and a Chern-Simons effective action for the elastic degrees of freedom is generated. Such a term enco…
The relevance of the strain-induced Dirac point shift to obtain the appropriate anisotropic Fermi velocity of strained graphene is demonstrated. Then a critical revision of the available effective Dirac Hamiltonians is made by studying in detail the limiting case of a uniform strain. An effective Dirac Hamiltonian for nonuniform strain is thus reported, which takes into account all strain-induced effects: changes in the nearest-neighbor hopping parameters, the reciprocal lattice deformation and the true shift of the Dirac point. Pseudomagnetic fields are thus explained by means of position-dep…
Lattice deformations act on the low-energy excitations of Dirac materials as effective axial vector fields. This allows to directly detect quantum anomalies of Dirac materials via the response to axial gauge fields. We investigate the parity anomaly in Dirac nodal line semimetals induced by lattice vibrations, and establish a topological piezoelectric effect; i.e., periodic lattice deformations generate topological Hall currents that are transverse to the deformation field. The currents induced by this piezoelectric effect are dissipationless and their magnitude is completely determined by the…
The rich structure of solid state physics provides us with Dirac materials the effective theory of which enjoys the Lorentz symmetry. In non-symmorphic lattices, the Lorentz symmetry will be deformed in a way that the null energy-momentum vectors will correspond to on-shell condition for tilted Dirac cone dispersion. In this sense, tilted Dirac/Weyl materials can be viewed as solid state systems where the effective spacetime is non-Minkowski. In this work, we show that the polarization tensor for tilted Dirac cone systems acquires a covariant from only when the spacetime is considered to be an…
We analyze the effect of tensional strain in the electronic structure of graphene. In the absence of electron-electron interactions, within linear elasticity theory, and a tight-binding approach, we observe that strain can generate a bulk spectral gap. However this gap is critical, requiring threshold deformations in excess of 20%, and only along preferred directions with respect to the underlying lattice. The gapless Dirac spectrum is robust for small and moderate deformations, and the gap appears as a consequence of the merging of the two inequivalent Dirac points, only under considerable de…
